Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-07-07
A Strong Indictment.


elected by disloyalty in deed or in mem
ory ordered the return of the captured
Rebel flags. But the words of Senator
Hiscock, in bis address at the unveiling
of monument at Syracuse on Thursday
last, were so philosophical, SO calm in
tone and so moderate in language, that
many may fail to appreciate the terrible
rebuke they convey. The voice of a
great nation, loyal to itself and to its
dead, just to traitors with the unsparing
justice of eternal condemnation, and yet
devoid of vindictiveness,is heard in this
address.
Senator Hiscock recognizes that the
new generation cannot and should not
not share "the animosities of the war
period. Already the young rejoice in
the grand results achieved. but are less
mindful of the train of events that
led to the struggle, and their successors
will take even less heed of them. but
reverence for patriotic memories will be
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pies loving duty in the coming ages
Something more than grateful memory
inspires these observances. 1t is the
highest duty of the Nation perPetualIy
to teach the sacred obligation of loyalty,
and the criminality of rebellion. and
those who are happily free from vindic-
tive feeling may not also be most un-
happily devoid of sense of right and
of duty. Thus the Senator says:
Shermsn's epigram, "Tbe war for the
rebellion was wrong, eternally wrong.
and for the Union right, ,eternally right"
will go laundering along the ages. and
while it is remembered we will rear
monuments to the memory of Union
veterans, and by these and other proper
obseryances [itly commemorate their
services.
When a nation teaches that treason Is
as noble as loyalty. and merits the same
honor, then it strikes at its own life.
The nation has no business to exist. no
business to enact laws, no busi>
ness to punish anybody for
breaking laws, if the traitors and
the loyal men are to stand on an
equal plane in the dispassionate judg
ment of the next generation succeeding
the suppression of rebellion. 1t the
new generation has not, with all its
freedom from vindictive passion, an
abiding sense of the wrongfulness of
treason. and of the grandeur of that he
roic loyalty which preserved the Union,
then it is not worthy of Its heritage. not
ct to govern a great nation. not able to
confront and put down the new forms
of resistance to just law which are sure
to menace the Republic.
Gush and sentimentalism have done
their worst and utmost to confound a
sturdy and abiding sense of loyalty with
a mean vindictiveness toward political
opponents. 1t was high time that the
distinction should be made clear by the
Senator, and by others whose duty it is
to lead public opinion. No nation can
with decency. or self-respect, or safety,
forget the gulf between loyalty and
lawbreaking, or suffer its people to cher
ish feeling that unflinchlng and per
petual condemnation of crime is petty
vindictiveness. Thus Mr. Hiscock says ::
From the flags our armies captured to
the constitutional amendments-the
new bill of the peoples rights--nothing
gained by the war must ever be surren
dered all trophies of valor and patriot
ism must be treasured until the ele>
ments dissolve them, and the work of
preservation shonld cheerfully be per-
formed by the Government, and the
people should and will see that this sa
cred trust is executed.
The genius and bravery of men dis
played in the commission Of a great
crime against their country may exact
honor from their associates and admira-
tion from others, but when they are
crowned as patriots, heroes or martyrs.
their teachings and acts are endorsed,
and the young especially may be in
spIred with their spirit and imbibe their
principles.
So emphatic an act of servitude to the
political power that attempted by long
and destructive civil war to dissolve the
Union as the surrender of their battle
flags and their removal from the capital
would be national rebuke of the Union
sentiment of the country that amid
great perils in the South supported the
Government; national insult to the
patriotism we are here to honor, and a
national crime against those who de-
voted their fortunes and their lives to
the support and preservation OF the Re
public.
There would be absolutely no word of
dissent from these just sentiments, thus
dispassionately but strongly stated. were
not great political party which owes
its success in the past, its hopes of sue.
cess in the future, and its very exists
ence, to the vindictive memories of de-
feated traitors, and to their unchanged
determination to defeat and defy laws
which tend to lessen their political pow
or. The Democratic party exists to-day
because there is in certain States ma
lignant rebelism of feeling tremendous.
ly powerful, which lifts to high Office
and honor men conspicuous only by
their crimes against the Union, which
binds in league of lawbreakers a mil
lion survivors of the rebellion and their
descendants to deseat and nullify Con-
stitutional amendment and all laws, to
secure freedom of suffrage. That is the
power which Mr.. Cleveland represents
The Senator's indictment Is calm, dis
passionate, but terribly just.-N. Y.
Tribune.
Wonderful Cures.
W. D. Hoyt & Co., wholesale and retail
druggists of Rome, Ga say: We have been
Dr KinU'c Nau Diroovarv Elactric